Sparsely structured techno with industrial beats – think the sound of Wax Trax! in the 80s – a dash of early Human League and Depeche Mode, with DAF and some 90s EMB slung into the mix and you’ve got an idea of what you’re going to get with Soft Riot’s ‘Fiction Prediction’. There are some decidedly retro electro moments, with some of the synth sounds sounding rather flimsy (as on the Krautrock-edged ‘Some Abstract Terror’).
The sounds and structures are cold and clinical, creating an atmosphere of claustrophobia and alienation. The overall effect is bleak, despite the poppier leanings of tracks like ‘Cinema Eyes’ and ‘The Commuters’, making for an album which is at times thrillingly intense but at others rather difficult going.
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